Surprise stolen base by Tex gets Yanks off on right foot

NEW YORK — On Oct. 1, Mark Teixeira talked about his return to the lineup after having missed 30 of the previous 31 games with a strained left calf.

WILLIAM MONTGOMERY

NEW YORK — On Oct. 1, Mark Teixeira talked about his return to the lineup after having missed 30 of the previous 31 games with a strained left calf.

He was concerned with trying to leg out a double or pushing it while trying to go from first to third. Stolen bases were the last thing on his mind.

"Speed isn't really my game," he laughed.

Speed was Teixeira's secret weapon in Friday's AL division series finale against Baltimore.

In the fifth inning of a 3-1 victory against the Orioles, Teixeira had a leadoff single to right for the Yankees' first hit of the game.

Orioles first baseman Mark Reynolds, however, decided not to hold what appeared to be a gimpy Teixeira on the bag.

Teixeira, who had stolen two bases in 123 regular-season games and has a grand total of 21 steals in his 10-year career, took off for second.

He slid in just in front of the throw from Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters, who had thrown out 39 percent of would-be base stealers in the regular season.

"I saw the opportunity and I thought we needed to take a chance," Teixeira said.

When Raul Ibanez followed with a single up the middle, Teixeira came around to score the first run of the game, which was a huge boost for a team that had trouble putting runs across the plate all series long.

"Right when he stole it, I was surprised," Ibanez said. "He got a great jump and got in there. It was a huge stolen base for us."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he had told his players to go with their gut if the situation arose.

"They weren't holding him on and we talked about it the other day," Girardi said. "If you think you can get it, go ahead and get it. We talked about the players trusting their instincts and he was right."